


Hell's Crow

by DevinePhoenix



Series: Bleach Youkai AU [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Stealth Crossover, Worldbuilding, Youkai, ignobly and in a ditch, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 06:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15309132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevinePhoenix/pseuds/DevinePhoenix
Summary: Ichigo's birthday prompt: SecretYoukai had been dying out in the world of the living for a long time. By the time Ichigo is born it's something to be hidden away, kept secret from everyone.





	Hell's Crow

**Author's Note:**

> Man idk where this was even trying to go. THIS IS NOT MY BEST WORK OK.  
> When I say Youkai fic, I mean a mashup of Inuyasha and half a dozen other things. this may not be legit lore but I'm gonna try anyway.  
> Also I wanted to do Uraichi badly but it just wasn't coming. Urahara just didn't want to show up.

Soul Society is the afterlife for all souls. Human or…other.

Powerful human souls, those that could feel hunger, could become Shinigami. But Youkai souls, due to how they were shaped and used during life, were all capable of becoming Shinigami. Their living society was based on reiatsu-use, and that kind of soul power easily followed them into death. However, birth rate and death rate of Youkai were very slow, so despite their power, they only made up less than a tenth of the Gotei thirteen forces.

To be honest, human modernization had made birth rate of youkai in the living world catastrophically low. They were all but extinct there, lost to myths and memories. Soul Society was now the home of all Youkai.

Youkai souls, with their instincts and power, carried their memories and self into death. Easily slipping from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Combined with their life experience in a combat-based society, their power lent them to easily reaching upper rankings in the Gotei.

The ones that preferred not to join the strict military service of the Gotei, congregated under clans forming some of the ‘Noble’ families of Seireitei. These clans help the more high-spirited and loner youkai fall under some sort of policing. Unrelated youkai would be quickly snatched up from Rukongai and folded under the wings of the major clans by marriage or apprenticeship. It made it easier to corral the youkai into Seireitei and away from human souls that could disintegrate under their ambient reiatsu pressure or be eaten by some of the more cannibalistic youkai species.

Three of the five great Noble families were Youkai clans.

The dutiful and long-lived Kuchki Clan were the history keepers, home to the kodama tree spirits. The main family who managed and adopted other nature spirits under their branches were the warrior Sakurazukamori, incredibly powerful sakura tree spirits. Traditionally, their strongest member was the captain of squad six. They were an incredibly poised clan, full of an inhuman grace found from being elemental spirits.

The sly and clever Shihoin were the keeper of artefacts and weapons, the domestic police force. The main family were cat youkai of all shapes and sizes and species, from domestic nekomata to wilder big cat breeds like lions. They took in quieter and more unobtrusive yokai, young trickster foxes more prone to subtle hiding illusions than older or more powerful foxes and ayakashi objects brought to life from long term use and reishi buildup.

The exuberant Shiba were where the louder youkai came to rest. This was the home of the combat-loving youkai, the powerhouses that tore up the world when they fought. And boy did they like to fight. It wasn’t uncommon for the Shiba clan grounds to be under repair because some Oni and an Okami started brawling. Inu daiyoukai, Okami, Tengu, Ryu, Oni and Nogistsune. They were a bit like squad eleven in that way, and they did have many of the branch members in that squad. The main family though, were Shiba-Inu youkai, loyal to a fault and powerful as only a warrior pack could be.

And far out in the wastes of Rukongai were strange Tengu, usually of the karasu tengu variety, who stared at reapers grimly when they came to recruit and responded to any incursions with multitudes of traps and arrows. They were simply nicknamed ‘Rukon Tengu’ by the patrolling Shinigami and left alone since they were very spread out and unlikely to form a militia to challenge the Gotei thirteen.

Kisuke only knew what the strange breed of standoffish Tengu were because he had felt and seen the change when the elderly Quincy in Karakura had died. A strange snap of powerlessness as the human Quincy power left their soul and a strange burst as the honed spiritual energy caused their souls to morph into something just as capable of protection. Human souls could only take so much, it made sense that beyond a threshold, they became something more suited to grasp power. Like the tales of old, of humans becoming youkai, A Qunicy inevitably became a Tengu.

(And for some reason most of them became Karasu Tengu in particular.)

However, all of this was unrelated right now because Kisuke was staring down at a small child in his arms. A little newborn with tufts of orange hair and two downy black wings.

This made no biological sense.

A Quincy with latent Tengu genes plus a Shiba-Inu daiyokai should produce one or the other, or even a hybrid. (Which honestly, he had been hoping for, Tengu and Inu were surprisingly biologically compatible after all)

But beyond all logic or sense, Kisuke was cradling a small, orange-haired Yatagarasu.

The small chick-wings were covered in black down, and easily mistaken by Isshin and Masaki to be those of a regular Karasu Tengu. Kisuke knew better though, he had seen a Yatagarsu before, felt how their reiatsu shone like miniature suns. The heavy burn of a star brought to earth was not something easily forgotten, even hundreds of years after he had felt one.

The only thing he could think that could possibly be responsible was the residual essence of Masaki’s hollow poisoning. Yatagarasu were distant cousins of karasu tengu, it wouldn’t be impossible for regular Karasu to carry an atavist gene. The hollow poisoning must have caused a defensive mutation in the child’s quincy-tengu genes.

Or maybe it was Isshin’s fault?

Tengu, for all their power and cleverness, were not daiyoukai. It could be that, like the quincies transforming into tengu from being too powerful, Isshin’s genetic addition of a powerful daiyoukai reiatsu caused the Tengu child to jump to a higher form of evolution to handle the power.

Kisuke didn’t quite know what to do with his plans.

Yatagrasu were the hell-crows of the dead, those who dragged sinners down to hell. They were sun-crows that carried battlefield dead home to heaven at the end of each day, messengers of heaven. No matter the legend, in the end they were essentially youkai Shinigami.

And perhaps more troubling,

A Yatagarasu hadn’t been born in generations.

The ones who had, born from Tengu or Inu, moved on quickly to the royal realm. But even they numbered only a few handful. People would be _watching_ , the royal realm would be watching.

But he got exactly what he asked for,

Someone powerful

 

* * *

 

 

The human world was no longer fit for most youkai. The industries and concrete killed the nature that most of them depended on, causing the nature-gods to wither and die. The dragon gods retreated into their underwater palace away from the oil and ships. The Tengu forsook the freedom of the sky for fear of aircraft and radar. Kodama were outright murdered as their trees were chopped down in droves.

Ayakashi were the only ones that thrived, in the new age of items and _stuff,_ their population was booming. Antiques were preserved and cherished, gaining spiritual power and strength, but newer cheap items were quickly disposed of before they could even reach a sliver of awareness.

The only youkai that held on were the ones that could disguise themselves as human, the Kitsune, the Inu, the Kodama that survived, the Nekomata and Bakeneko and whoever had managed to reach under the aegis of a benevolent kitsune in time. Youkai species died off in droves as they were hunted down or unable to cope with the world.

Ichigo was born into the ‘new’ generation of youkai, after they had already been in hiding for decades. His mother was only a latent, and his father, daiyoukai he was, was sealed and all but a human. He was born with his wings into a caged world. The one feature that marked him as something ‘other’ was something to be hidden away in the dark, like it was something shameful and disgusting. Flight was forbidden except in strict circumstances and only indoors. Eventually he grew too large to be able to fly indoors at all. Unless he was preening behind blackout curtains and a locked door, his wings were not allowed to be out at all.

It was the biggest secret of his life.

He was privately thankful that Karin had been born a Shiba-Inu and Yuzu didn’t seem to crave the sky like he did. Yuzu’s sparrow wings were small and wouldn’t bear her weight for a long time yet. They were easily hidden, and she didn’t mind folding them away so that she could make friends.

Ichigo’s wings were enormous, black ragged things that could lift him with nearly no effort. He longed for the sky with an intensity that sometime left him dizzy.

But it was no longer the age of youkai.

As much as he wished, the skies no longer belonged to Tengu, it belonged to humans with their planes and radar.

He contented himself with fighting to protect on the ground.

He fought as a human would, with fist and words where his soul screamed for feathers and blades and blood.

Despite being in a Kitsune’s territory, and a very energy rich area, there were few youkai in Karakura. A testament to their dying breed. Minor spirits, a handful of kodama, an old kappa. The closest there were to a youkai of his level were the Ishida kasaru-blooded Quincies.

Of which his mother was one.

She had no wings or sky-longing and could barely understand his inhuman urges, but she tried.

The reason she had youkai for children instead of Quincies was all down to her husband. Ichigo knew Isshin was an Inu daiyoukai – or had been at least. He also knew that he had been sealed, effectively neutered in an effort to blend in with humans.

(He lived in fear for the day Isshin might decide to do it to him)

(Strip him of his wings and sky-lust)

He had never met the area kitsune in all his years living in Karakura. Seen him from a distance, yes. It was hard not to notice when a large celestial beast was dancing through the sky. Ichigo envied him that freedom, even if he knew the fox was only making rounds and helping spread protective illusions. His wings itched with a need to follow, to chase, to join the fox in the sky. But the nine tails that followed behind the scrawny blond fox intimidated him.

Neither of his parents taught him much about youkai, content with playing human, but Ichigo knew the stories.

No matter how scrawny and underfed the fox looked, he had the power to level mountains and cause volcanos with a swish of his tails. To make matters worse, Ichigo honestly couldn’t tell if the patron Kitsune of Karakura was an Inari messenger or a Nogitsune. He didn’t know what the markers of each kind were like. Upon deeper study though, he was fairly certain the fox wasn’t a malicious field fox. It didn’t cause mischief or trouble in its wake and seemed very dedicated to protecting the youkai, little and diminished as they were, from humans.

It took years for him to finally meet the Karakura Kitsune.

After, a tiny Shinigami Yuki-onna smashed into his room and his life. After she taught him about soul society and hollows, opened his world even more. Told him of the entire booming Youkai culture there.

After he accepted the mantle of soul reaper to save his family.

The mantle that revealed his secret no matter how hard he tried. In spirit form, his wings couldn’t be pulled in, like his unruly reiatsu, it refused to be restrained. Since he was invisible anyway, he took to the skies for the first time in his life. The small bit of guilt he felt at breaking his mother’s rule was ignored in the glorious feeling of having wind under his wings.

Even when he finally met him, he didn’t notice. To be fair, who would’ve guessed that the almighty ninetails who ruled the town, was a sleazy looking candy-store owner.

Soul Society was a bit of a shock to his senses. For all they were heavily militarized and a bit stupid in their legal decisions, they had more youkai there than he had ever seen in his life. Just walking around without fear or open prejudice. It was a little baffling to his brain, seeing something he had held so close to his chest for years being flaunted openly.

From the smarmy silver-haired Nogitsune who was a _captain_ to the odd oni-and-tengu pair from the eleventh.

They all flaunted their youkai abilities like it wasn’t something to hide.

And the more he fought, the better he felt. The more he adapted to use his wings in combat, just like he saw the other Shinigami doing. The more his wings flared out, the more the ragged edges lit with scarlet reiatsu.

They had always done that as a threat display, but the action of it made the Shinigami stare.

But the biggest irritation of the whole thing was Byakuya.

He was old.

One of the oldest kodama Ichigo had ever seen, though that didn’t say much.

Far worse, he was one of the strongest kinds of kodama. A sakura tree upon Japanese soil was immensely powerful but he was something beyond a kodama, A Sakurazukamori, a monster straight out from the pages of a fairytale. As a species, they functioned similarly to vampires in that they needed blood fed directly to their home-tree’s roots. But they mainly relied on ambush tactics for hunting or making a contract with a blood donor. But Byakuya took it to a whole other level.

His zanpakuto was all the horror stories of a Sakurazukamori but _mobile_.

Thankfully, the reiatsu burning through his wings made them immune to the petal blades or he would’ve had a very quick death.

(And was that an actual white-haired _dragon_ helping him out at Soukyoku Hill?)

(more concerning, was that a Nogitsune in a pink kimono backing him up?)

(Soul Society was such a _weird_ place)

**Author's Note:**

> Youkai key  
> Inu- closest to actual lore is Inugami which are human created and controlled dog spirits, but think more Inuyasha (Their Inu youkai have never left my heart). After some research I discovered that The Inuyasha Inu-Youkai are based on tiangou (天狗, "heavenly dog"), a black dog that lived in the sky. In japan, Tiangou are called Tengu and are presented as winged spirits instead. In this story, since they are the same kind of spirit, just with different shapes, they are able to interbreed without any problems and powerful Inu-Tengu hybrids can occur. (This is what Kisuke was initially hoping Ichigo might be)  
> Okami – wolf version of Inu (also from Inuyasha)  
> Daiyoukai/Taiyoukai -also from Inuyasha, is meant to imply a greater demon  
> Tengu – winged guardian spirits of temples that look like people with wings. They’re warrior spirits and usually very strong.  
> Kitsune – Trickster foxes capable of illusions and shapeshifting as well as elemental manipulation. The more tails they have, the more powerful they are. The most powerful are the nine-tailed fox or kyuubi no kitsune. The Zenko or good foxes are messengers for the goddess Inari. The yako/Nogitsune/field foxes are the malicious and mischievous foxes.  
> Yuki-onna – Snow women who haunt snowstorms in their myth.  
> Oni – essentially ogres, they are very physically strong  
> Kodama – essentially Japanese dryads or tree spirits.  
> Sakurazukamori – something I picked up from X/1999 a very old and depressing CLAMP manga. Essentially assassins bound to a bloodthirsty sakura tree. It comes from the myth that sakura trees have pink flowers because they’re planted on top of bodies.  
> Nekomata – two-tailed cat that is born from a cat living a hundred years. Tricksters and shapeshifters.  
> Ayakashi- spirits born when an item reaches a hundred years of age. So yes, umbrella spirits are a thing.  
> Ryu – Japanese dragons are primarily water based, they have a mythical underwater kingdom.  
> Yatagarasu – three-legged bird messengers from heaven. I have no idea where I got this lore in my head that they were hell crows. Could be from digimon data squad or from Touhou Project.


End file.
